What Religion are You Ready to Convert to? Healthcare Bill

Last night I got a crazy email from my uncle asking if it were true. He knows not to send chain mail without verifying it. I call him on propaganda. The text of the email was stating the Muslims are exempted from the Healthcare Bill. On it's face, it smells like horse shit. So I start digging and can't find it as being true or untrue. I send him off a Amish Exemption in the event that they are a part of a 501(c)3 that would apply to any church that has a collective that is a non-profit that has existed since 1999. (Link that covers both points). I'm not finding much in the way of credibility checking so I throw my hands up because I know that I'm attending a luncheon today to see a presentation on what an Insurer has been able to gleam from it as well.

Today I found what I was looking for. As we all know there is a mandate to purchase insurance that comes with this bill. It kicks in in 2014 if I recall correctly. There are exceptions such as financial hardship, you can chose to not purchase and pay a penalty, the insurance is more than 8% of your income, etc. The exception that stands out to me... Religious Objection. I'm going to give a link to a blog that I know nothing about. Note that I simply like their layout and that's why I'm choosing this link. The point is that there are quite a number of odd ball groups that due to lifestyle or religion couldn't afford healthcare insurance. Can most Amish actually come up with $800 a month? Some can because they are making some stand alone fireplaces or furniture. But in general it's too expensive for the average Amish and maybe the same is true for a Mennonite? Or if you are a Christian Scientist you may just want to pray the Ebola Virus away?

I have some compassion for this problem. We do have a First Amendment. I can hear the gnashing of teeth as the anger brews over that, but it's true so fire away. So what I'm getting at is, if you couldn't afford Healthcare Insurance, would you pretend to be against it for a religious reason such as being a Christina Scientist? Is there any one religion that is likely to grow due to the health care policy? If you were to be or become poor before 2014, what religion will you be converting to?

The truth is that if you work for a smaller company with just over 50 employees, prepare to be separate companies and if you don't have healthcare now... you ain't getn' it. There are tons of tricks just waiting to be played here. Wal-Marts stand a good chance to have no one working more than 30 hours a week (full time) or they will have multiple holding companys own all of the stores and other companies selling tires, while another does groceries, etc.Very little of this bill is going to stick to employers that want to avoid it. The reality is that we just had another tax put on us. I'm fine with it really. But the reality is that it simply didn't go far enough. Should be interesting to watch it shake out over the next 8 years.

Replies to This Discussion

From what I've seen there are two corrections the Anthony's Statements. This is a tax, not a fine. The IRS does come after taxes. You are going to have to declare the value (rather the employer will) of the Insurance and spending accounts as income. If you don't declare, then it's the automatic $695 or 2.5% of your income on your taxes, whichever is greater. Unless of course coverage costs would be greater than 8% of your income. Link That's my understanding of what I was presented today and this site.

The health care managed to make very few positive changes to our healthcare system. Overall it's going to be business as usual. Hooray for getting rid of pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps, or dropping coverage because of cost of an individuals care. Boo for basically delivering millions of new customers into the private insurance companies greedy hands.

I want medicare. Give me medicare. I've lost a lot of respect for Obama attempting his Bi-partisanship play and failing miserably. He should have said, "screw what conservatives want... we're doing it our way."

As for the religious being able to opt out of the new deal? The only people who lose on that is the children of the religiously insane. I think as a country children should be provided for even if their parents are lunatics.